DAEMON PYRE // Release First Song From Final Album…Ever?

Sydney death metal mainstays Daemon Pyre today released their first single, Red Sun Phenomenon, from what they say will be their final album. Sad face.

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The track, their first new release in over two years, comes from their second and last full-length record, Serpent Gods and a Dying Sun. The album is set for release on 22nd of May.

The band has been in limbo since 2017 as vocalist (and former Hard Noise podcast host) Sam Rilatt stepped back from screaming duties to focus on family, while guitarist Andrew Lilley moved to California for work commitments. Last year, the band re-formed for one last trip around a (dying) sun, sitting on an album’s worth of killer material.

The primary creative drive was to try to create a record which melded beautiful and ugly. Epic and brutal, melodic and aggressive, tranquil and abrasive.
[ Daemon Pyre ]

Rilatt gives his two cents on the song, saying “I just love how much the energy of this songs melodies so perfectly run alongside the lyrics I managed to find. The deep, swelling intro, to the space in between sections, to that epic chorus … it feels like a song about cosmic birth. Rebirth, even. A song that is about humans and the universe living in a sort of symbiosis. That there is energy out there, that we don’t understand and that we are equally complex. That we are as powerful as a rising sun. As destructive as a dying star. Again, this song was written in a way that made its meaning cryptic, but I love that about it! I love the idea that the lyrics and music together can be felt and taken by each listener differently.”

Lilley gives more background, saying “Red Sun Phenomenon was one of the last tracks we finished during the pre production/recording process. We tracked all the guitars and bass in my tiny 1 bedroom unit in Stanmore, sweaty dudes in a little room belting out death metal. I picked up a seven-string halfway through the writing process and was determined to find a way of using it on the record without sounding like the current trends, more of a song enhancer rather than instigator..Initially this song was a bunch of really cool riffs from Kiel (Stanger, bass) where we couldn’t quite hear the song among them all, but we were fucking determined to make one!

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“We came up with the ending, then brainstormed and squeezed out an idea which became the verse and everything fell into place from there. Once Sam added his vocals, it became one of the strongest songs on the record. Melodic, atmospheric, anthemic, and shows the more progressive side of the album. The primary creative drive was to try to create a record which melded beautiful and ugly. Epic and brutal, melodic and aggressive, tranquil and abrasive. Where every song really has its own vibe and this is one to scream your balls off to.”

The entire album was self-produced, including tracking and pre-production. The band has stated there will be no tours or farewell shows to close off the band’s short but incendiary history. Forming in 2015, they released one self-titled LP in that same year. They also shared stages with metal luminaries The Haunted, Insomnium, Goatwhore, Psycroptic, King Parrot, Ne Obliviscaris, and toured overseas, most notably in Indonesia.

Pre-orders for Serpent Gods and a Dying Sun are available here.